Over time, bone may degenerate as a result of trauma, disease, and/or natural processes, such as aging. Bone degeneration can affect surrounding tissues and have significant impact on the lifestyle of the patient. For example, destabilization of a spine may result in alteration of a natural spacing between adjacent vertebrae, which can place pressure on nerves that pass between vertebral bodies. Over time, this pressure can cause pain and even permanent nerve damage.
Spinal stabilization procedures are now routinely performed on patients suffering from spinal destabilization. These procedures can be used to maintain and/or re-establish the natural spacing between vertebrae. These procedures can be performed using surgical or recently-developed minimally invasive procedures. Both approaches typically involve the securement of pedicle screws to the pedicles of adjacent vertebrae and placement of a rod between adjacent pedicle screws. The fixed connection between the pedicle screws, and, therefore, between the vertebrae, stabilizes the spacing between the vertebrae. The rod can also be leveraged to compress the vertebrae by reducing the existing spacing between the vertebrae when necessary or desired.
Despite advances in the art, rod placement procedures still face challenges. For example, alignment of rods with pedicle screws, particularly with minimally-invasive procedures and techniques, continues to have a degree of imprecision. Furthermore, current devices fail to provide a sufficiently simple indication of when a rod has been advanced sufficiently. Thus, a need exists for improved rod insertion tools, rods and methods useful in the placement of rods in patients.